Remember the early days of film when trailers were less than a minute? You would have to go back multiple decades to find trailers that consistently came under a minute. The purpose of a trailer is simple; it should explain the plot in that gives audience a clear understanding of what’s to come when they purchase a movie ticket. Of course, established a tone and style is crucial for a trailer. However, the purpose for a trailer shouldn’t be to give away the entire film! Yet, it feels that modern trailers do exactly just that.
Endings are now in movie trailers. So are shocking twists and key plot points the give a film it’s emotional levity. The days of surprises and secrets feel long gone because executives have become so desperate to get audiences into theaters that they’ve forgotten that good surprises help elevator the movie going experience. The art of a movie trailer has been lost because of corporate greed.
Giving Away Spoilers Isn’t Anything New
This phenomenon is nothing new. The Superman III trailer spoils the ending by having Superman save Richard Pryor’s Gus Gorman. The problem is that Gorman is a villain up to that point. The Godfather Part II simply gives away that Hyman Roth gets shot. Terminator Salvation spoils that Marcus Wright is a Terminator, even though that’s the central mystery of the film. However, the difference is, more films of the modern age are giving away key plot points within it’s trailers.
Can you imagine if Alien gave away the chestburster scene? Or if Psycho showcased that Norman Bates was really Norma? Mystery is a big element within any trailer. Trailers should give us enough to wet our appetites to purchase a ticket. A good trailers doesn’t need to give away ALL of their best scenes.
Despite already have a book, Gone Girl did a masterfully job of playing up the mystery that Nick Dunne likely killed his wife. It tricked us into believing that it was a certain kind of film, yet the trailers weren’t deceptive with it’s approach. It’s hard to find such a gem of a trailer these days because studios seem afraid that audience might not like a film because they don’t know every aspect of it.
Giving Away Too Much Kills The Movie Theater Experience
Spider-Man: No Way Home was an interesting case. Despite all of the leaks that confirmed Tobey McGuire and Andrew Garfield was in the movie, Sony absolutely refused to acknowledge this. In fact, they outright pretended it wasn’t true! It made audience want to see the film. Should most knew that Tobey and Andrew were in the movie, but since none of their scenes were in the trailers, it didn’t give any key moments that had a significant impact on the plot.
Going back to mystery, movie are like rollercoaster rides: You think you know how it’s going to go until a couple of surprises subvert your expectations. The purpose of every movie is to evoke the necessary emotion that the director wants to get out of you. Imagine if the trailer revealed that Goblin killed Aunt May? That moment subvert our expectations because it’s never happened before in the live action film. It was genuinely a sad and emotional scene that worked because it wasn’t spoiled beforehand.
Being packed in a theater full of fans and feeling that range of emotion is a reward experience. It helps us bond with a bunch of strangers in ways that not other mediums allow us to do so. Killing the mystery has big a huge factor in ruining the movie theater experience. What’s the point in purchasing a ticket if all of my questions been answered in a three minute trailer?
Trailers Need To Go Back To Being One Minute
These days, a one minute trailer is considered a teaser. But sometimes a teaser is all you need. Granted, if the plot isn’t clear that it’s best to reveal that in the trailer, but it should NEVER give any the entire story. It often feels that the cleverness of modern trailers are few and far in-between. Movie trailers some tricked into thinking one thing and the movie itself subverts whatever expectations you had. If goes back to the Gone Girl example; the editors understood the importance of surprises in a movie theater and it paid off nicely.
But trailers doesn’t have to about tricking audiences. The cleverness is getting people excited over a film that they barely know. Reveal too much and you spoiled any mystery going on. Reveal too little and the interest can be dead. Editing is a trailer is not an easy process. The solution shouldn’t be to GIVE away ever since beat that will get audiences excited. I stated corporate greed is the reason the art of the movie trailer is lost. I highlighted this aspect because it feels that the marketing department isn’t stepping into the shoes of the average movie goer.
They’re simply trying to sell you a product and throwing every exciting image at you sell your the product. In the meantime, it’s ruining the narrative because its secrets are being revealed. The art of a good trailer has been lost. Some great ones come every now and then, but ultimately, it’s best to avoid trailers if you want to still enjoy the movie experience.
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